The Mourning Period
by Jubilee Torch
Summary: Fitz and Olivia are married post Fitz's presidency. Olivia struggles to help her husband the one day a year he needs it the most, only to realize all they ever need is each other. One Shot.


**I do not own Scandal. Reviews are always welcome. Hope you enjoy!**

It had been five years. Five years ago today exactly and every year the events of this day unfolded in a pattern identical to all of its predecessors. Olivia had known this was coming. Even without it saved into her smart phone her mental calendar had been counting down to it for weeks, anxiously ticking off days, hours, and minutes to her least favorite day of the year.

She was Olivia Carolyn Pope: The Original Gladiator in a Suit. She built political powerhouses, saved C.E.O.s on the brink of ruin, and could make even the messiest of socialites look like a proper role model in the public eye. She was a fighter and she didn't give up, which is precisely why she hated this day. It was the one time a year she genuinely felt helpless.

Today was the anniversary of Fitzgerald Thomas Grant II's death. Fitz and Big Jerry's relationship had always been… complicated. Nevertheless Fitz mourned Jerry the same way every year. The process actually began the night before with Fitz choosing to stay up so late it resulted in Olivia having to go to bed without him- something especially rare for the intensely intimate couple. He'd retire to his study shortly after dinner and watch the flames in the fireplace until they were just dimly glowing embers with a tumbler of scotch in hand and the bottle not too far away. Olivia would come in, stand behind him in his desk chair, trail her warm delicate fingers from the roots of his curls down his neck and rub his shoulders for awhile. It was a fruitless effort of relieving his tension; but the point was to let him know if he needed anything she was still there as she always had been. Then she'd place the softest sweetest kiss possible just above his right temple and bid him good night.

In the morning, the moment she woke she'd find herself reaching for him eyes still closed and fingers outstretched out of habit; and when her digits felt nothing but cool empty sheets beside her Olivia would remember what today was with a sigh, pull herself out of bed, and prepare for a day at the office. Fitz would already have been up for hours either chopping unnecessary amounts of wood for kindling or somewhere farther away on the several acres of land they owned surrounding the house performing some other equally physically exhausting task. He wouldn't speak unless spoken to and even then his responses were monosyllabic or caveman like grunts.

During her time with him Olivia had learned that on this day he preferred his solitude. Staying home from work to comfort her emotionally ailing husband only provided him with ample opportunity to ignore her. Following that conclusion she's always feel terrible for thinking that way. Fitz was mourning the most problematic figure in his life yet here she was moping over the attention her husband wasn't giving her. No. Staying here wasn't good for either of them. It was best she go to work, not feel useless, and focus on problems she could solve. So here she was at her desk after a long day's worth of crisis managing when a knock at her office door ripped her from her reverie. "If you don't need anything else we were thinking of packing up and grabbing a drink to unwind…" Harrison told her.

Olivia looked at her desk clock. It was almost 10pm. She shook her head in mild embarrassment when she realized just how late at the office she'd stayed- another coping mechanism she had begun to develop for dealing with this day. Mild concern furrowed the brow on Harrison's strikingly handsome face in response to Liv's silence. "Unless there IS something you need…" He tried again. This time the gladiator spoke. "No that will be all Harrison, thank you. Go have a normal night out." Harrison chuckled his reply "Come with us. You look like you could use a drink." Olivia tilted her head in thought and eyed the wedding photo on her desk. It was a candid shot. Fitz had snuck up behind her to encase her waist in his arms while he placed his lips on the side of her neck. Then, with closed eyes and lips parted in a smile she reached for his thick mane of curls just as the camera flashed. Olivia loved that picture. It was a constant reminder that the power of their love never failed to sneak up and surprise her. The famed fixer heard herself telling Harrison "Thanks, but no thanks" as she grabbed her coat and bag because she knew the only thing she needed right now was to be near her husband.

When Liv got home the entire house was in darkness. The only light came from the master bathroom where she could hear the shower running. Olivia walked through the bathroom door and sure enough there was Fitz, head bowed standing directly under the shower head letting the water run over his body. He was trying to unwind and everything Olivia saw from the slumped shoulders to the near empty bottle of scotch outside the shower door reeked of intensely emotional defeat.

Suddenly, as if he could sense her watching him, Fitz looked up. The look he gave her forced Olivia to emit an audible gasp. Stunning slate blue eyes screamed broken and for the first time that Olivia knew what to do. Never taking her eyes off his Liv disrobed until she was completely naked. Then, pulling a hair tie from the pocket of her discarded slacks she piled her hair in a sloppy bun atop her head and stepped into the massive shower. Fitz stepped back wordlessly to make room for his wife and only took his eyes off her when he closed them to further relish in the feel of her washing his chest with an oversized loofah. When Liv had finished bathing Fitz she turned to face him letting her hands slide up the muscular contours of his back. She stood on tip toe and in combination with the aid of his slouched posture ran her nose along the line of his jaw. After a few passes Fitz opened his eyes and looked down at her before uttering one word. "Livvie…" It was hoarse sounding and barely above a whisper but Olivia heard everything he hadn't said to her. He was done coping alone. He was beyond tired and he wanted to find peace and restoration in her, and she was more than happy to give it to him.

She took his mouth with hers beginning with teasing touches of the tongue and escalating to long languid licks. It was as if she needed to taste the remnants of harsh brown liquor on his tongue, the salty unshed tears stuck at the back of his throat, and leftovers of the pasta primavera he'd made from scratch the other night just before the sadness sank in. They were all flavors of the man who'd stolen her heart and Liv had to savor them all. However, the now solid length poking at her naval had other ideas in mind. Fitz sat down on the shower's built in stone bench. Trailing his hands from her cheeks down her slender form until his fingers found them slowly but surely digging into the soft flesh at her waist, thumbs rubbing tantric circles over her hip bones. One tug from him had their soaking wet bodies mere centimeters apart. Olivia's mind was raving with thoughts of impending pleasure and she knew before she let a single moan past her lips she needed to make one thing clear. Liv was certain he had spent most of the day with his father's words in his head. _"You're not good enough." "You're weak." "No one will want you." _She had to put his mind at ease, empower him by showing him the power he held over her.

She brought her hands to his curls, tilted his head back until his eyes met hers, and in a pleading voice turned demure and breathy by desperation and lust said "Touch me." Fitz removed one of her hands from his hair and began laying chaste kisses into her palm. She turned her hand until it was grasping his and placed it between her legs. When Olivia was certain he had felt the wetness no shower can create she looked in his eyes once more and begged "Please…" The darkening of his grey blue eyes happened almost instantaneously. Familiar tapered fingers stroked places inside of her only they could reach alternating between various amounts of speed and pressure. It seemed like he's only just begun, yet already incoherent sounds were escaping from her full lips. Her chest heaved with the effort of heavy breathing bringing her breast forward and away from Fitz's face in a rhythmic kind of teasing. He took one perfectly peaked nipple into his mouth nibbling, sucking, and licking timed with the stroking of his fingers.

When he turned his attention to the other breast he knew she was close. Fitz could feel the sweet syrup from inside her dripping down his hand while her hips grinded instinctively into the heel of his palm hoping for much needed friction against her ultra sensitive spot. Olivia gasped when she felt him pull his fingers from her and then fought back a smirk when she saw him licking them clean one by one. He was teasing her. Slowly he was climbing out the abyss in which he'd spent the day. Liv decided to hasten the process by adding fuel to his fire.

She pouted prettily.

The next thing she knew he had hoisted her in the air. Her back was pressed to the shower wall and her legs wrapped themselves around Fitz's waist almost reflexively. The feel of his strong hands gripping her rear sent Olivia's lips on a mission. She laid a trail of kisses leading up from his chest to his collar bone and from his collar bone to his neck until he dipped his head and claimed her lips with his. Yet, even with Liv's tongue wrestling with his Fitz knew from the grinding of Olivia's hips she needed more. They needed more.

In one swift movement Fitz dove into his wife's core filling her completely. Her accompanying moan echoed off the shower walls. Back and forth he thrusted and Olivia's answering movements ensured that their hips continued to meet as rhythmically as the tide meeting the shore. When the couple was so closely entwined together neither could tell where their extremities ended and the other's began, Fitz angled his hips and increased his speed. Moments later Olivia fell head first over the edge and when her husband looked down and saw her full lips parted in orgasm he followed her release.

Still gasping for breath Olivia looked in Fitz's eyes and struggled to tell him "Fitz…I just… I just wanted you…-"

"Sshh." Fitz cupped her jaw in his hand and pressed his lip to hers once more before saying.

"I know."


End file.
